Automatic musical instrument



e. M. RUSSELL. I AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15' I915- RENEWED DEC- 2&1921- Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

G. M. RUSSELL.

AUTOMATlC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION r1LD.sP1..15,1915. RENEWED 1112c. 2B. 1921.

1,409,487. 7 1 Patented Mar.'14,1922.

G. M. RUSSELL. AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-15.1.915- RENEWED DEC. 28. 1921.

1,409,487. Patented Mar. 14, 1922;

4 suns-sum 3.

a -e 720 6' I I e. MLRUSSELL. AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15. I9I5. RENEWED IJEC. 28, I92I.

1,409,487. Patented Mar.14,1922

, UNlT ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUY M. RUSSELL, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN PIANO COMPANY,'OF'NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 14;, 1922.

Application filed September 15, 1915, Serial No, 50,876. Renewed December 28, 1921. Serial No. 525,349.

To all whom it may GOTLCMWIJ Be it known that I, GUY M. RUSSELL, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Rochester, county of Monroe, and State of New -York, have invented an Improvement in Automatic" Musical Instruments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification,like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to automatic or partlyautomatic player pianos andpertains more particularly to. the organization of controlling apparatus or elements in structuralunits such that they 'maybeassembled and adjusted. apart from the instrument t selfiandthenapplied as a unit to the instrument; c.

. .Qne. or the'objects of the invention is to 20 supply a structural unit comprising various controlling elements whichmay be adjusted respectively" and in relation to each, other in the desired final adjustments before being placed in themusical instrumenhsuch as a player piano or the like; and when installed inthe instrument, nothing requires to be done but 'to connect the unit with other working parts by simple tubes or links whichserve to complete the organized auto- 30 matic or partly automatic instrument.

.The character of the invention may be readily understood by reference to one practicable embodiment which has proved successfu-l in use and is shown for illustration in the accompanying drawings, in which:

. Fig. 1 is-a plan view of the unit detached from a player piano;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the unit shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detailedsection'v on the line 33 of Fig. 2; d

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the unit, shown in Fig. 1; Y

Figgo is a detailed'section on the line 5- 5 of-Fig.2;. I

Fig. fiisa cross section on the lines 6-6 of-FigsQl-and 4:; 7

Fig. 7 is fa detailed side elevation partly in section on the line -7-7 of Fig. 6.

The specific controlling unit illustrated in the drawings comprises apparatus for controlling and operating a pedal-mechanism as, for example, the so-called soft pedal, or the dampenpedal; apparatus forgoverning the speed of travel of the music sheet to maintain it uniform; apparatusfor varying the speed of travel of the music sheet; manually operable means for varying the intensity of playing; regulating means-for maintaining uniformity of playing intensities whether one or many notes be sounded at a time; automatic means for varying playing intensities; automatic means for producing crescendo and diminuendo effects in connection with the regulation; and means for. causing thenote sheet motor, upon re-winding, to be operated by the maximum degree of exhaust from the .feeder bellows without utilizing the operation of. the speedgovernor. All of these different sets of apparatus are assembled and secured in cooperative relation in a single structural unit such that all may be mounted in the unit and adjusted respectively and in relation to each otherand then thewhole maybeinsertedas aiunit in the instrument and .coupled by simple means with other operating parts thereof.

The various parts of the unit, in the illustrative instance, are mounted upon a base board 10 which 'by being appropriately channelled as presently'described provides conduits leading to various difi'erent parts. For instance a collared tube 11 provides meansforattaching a pipe leading to the feeder bellows of any practicable type which, for the present purposes, will be assumed to be suction bellows. A conduit 12 leads to the music sheet motor. It is assumed that.

the music sheet motor is a pneumatic motor of usual type. A tube 13 provides means is in'serted in the playing instrument only a single-connection need be made with the feeder bellows, i. e. at the collared tube 11; another 'connectionwith the action chestby the tube 13 and a third connection with the note sheet motor by the pipe 12. Obviously these connections may be very readily made by flexible pipes and may be equally readily broken if, for i any purpose, it is desired; to remove the unit. j

The pedal operating mechanism will be first described; ,To' simplify the usual pedal mechanism for eithera damper or soft edal, a pedal rod 15 is shown in Figs. 6 and having a pin 16 normally resting in a leather or other flexible stirrup 17 supported upon a bracket l8secured near the heel of the movable board of a pedal operating bellows 19. As shown in section in Fig. 7 and in dotted lines in Fig. 6 the bellows 19 has an open port 20 extending clear through the base board 10 of the unit, and a channel 21 leading from said port 20 to a valve chamber 22. Anadjustably acting valve 23 in said chamber admits, alternatively, atmosphere and exhaust to the channel 21 and'the pneumatic 19. The exhaust chamber 25 beneath the valve 23 (Fig. 6) is entered by a passage 26 connected by a duct'27 with another duct 28 connected with the tube 11 which leads to the feeder bellows. Both of the ducts 27 and 28 areprovided by channels formed in the rear of the base board 10. Thusthe' maximum exhaust is present in the exhaust chamber 25 and the appropriate action of the valve '23 opens the pedal pneumatic 19 fromtiine to time to the high exhaust. To mufile the sound of operation of the valve 23 a felt mufiier 30 may be provided, of any practicable form. The valve 23 is a secondary valve operated by the diaphragm over a chamber 32 which chamber is controlled by a double-acting valve 33 operated in turn by thediaphragm of a chamber 84, the latter chamber being connected (Fig. 1) by a duct 35 With'the pedal operating vent in the tracker bar.

When a music sheet is being re-wound after playing, the pedal perforations in the sheet move over the pedal vent in the tracker bar in reverse order and have a tendency to repeat the operation of the pedal pneumatic 19 by opening and closing the vent. To prevent the chattering of the pedal operating apparatus during this re-winding, the primary valve 33 is held down during all the ire-winding, with suliicient force to hold the valve 33 closed in spite of the opening of the pedal operating vent and consequent admission of atmosphere to the diaphragm chamber 34. This is accomplished by a fin- I ger 40 overlying the top of the valve 33, and

carried upon the movable board of a pedalstop pneumatic 41 which is connected by a duct 42 with a chest 43 for regulated air presently referred to. During all the normal orplayin'g operation of the instrument, regulated air is present in the chest 43, and through the duct 42,-,pro'duces a condition of exhaust in the pneumatic 41 thereby somewhat collapsing the latter and holding the finger "40 away from operative contact 'or relation with the valve 33 and lifting the valve free to operate in a normal way so as to control the pedal action. Upon the rewinding, however, the supply of; regulated air is cut off from the chest 43 and atmosphere admitted thereto and therethrough' to the-pneumatic 41, permitting the spring 45 to expand said pneumatic 41 and move the fingerdown into position to hold the valve 33 in closed position as described,so that the pedal mechanism is prevented from operating during the re-winding.

The pedal bellows 19 carries an adjustable stop 47 to prevent too great collapse of the pneumatic and isprovided with a stop 48 to prevent too great expansion of the pneumatic.

Referring again to the flexible stirrup 17 suspended from the heel of the pedal pneumatic 19, the flexibility thereof permits the pedal rod 15 to be operated in the usual manner by the foot pedal without interferonce from the automatic apparatus while, atthe same time, provides effectively for a positive actuation of the rod by the pneumatic 19.

The governor for the note sheet motor will be next described. The illustrative construction is shown in Figs. 3 and 6. In Fi". 6 the cover 50 for the movable board of-the pneumatic is removed to disclose the interior. The governor pneumatic 51 has a port 52 controlled by a throttle valve 53 mounted upon a pivot 54 and having its rear end engaged by a pin 55 which contacts with the inner face of the movable board 50. The port 52 leads into a chamber 56 which is a part of the high exhaust chamber 28 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. The governor pneumatic 51 has also a port 58 which as shown in Fig. 6 ,in dotted lines, is connected by a channel 59 with a port 60 leading into the valve box of the tempo controlling valve. As will be well understood in the art, the pneumatic 51 with its throttle valve 53, is simply a regulator pneumatic which maintains uniform the degree of tension at the port 58 in the channel 59 and at the port 60; in other words, the flow of air through these ports is maintained at a uniform speed by the governor pneumatic 51, except so far as the tempo controlling valve presently referred to may modify the flow of air to change the speed of travel of the music sheet.

lurning next to the tempo controlling valve, the same is shown in front elevation in Fig. 6 and in side elevation in Fig. 5, the tempo controlling valve itself being indi cated by the numeral 62.

The valve 62 has a stem 63 which extends upwardly throughthc valve box 64 and is connected by a link 65 with the horizontal arm 66 oi? a bell crank lever. This lever is mounted upon a bracket 67 and the vertical arm 68' thereof is arranged to be connected with any desired manual or other controlling means by which the tempo valve may be operated. The valve box 64. has a port 70 leading to a channel 71 (see dotted lines Fig. 6), said channel being formed in the base board 10 and extending up to the pipe 12 by which connection is made with the note sheet motor. Evidently the closure of time the operation of the governor pneumatic 51 will maintain uniform the speed of the motor for any given adjustment of the tempo valve 62, V

Then the note sheet is being rewound after playing, it is desired to travel at maximum speed and in such circumstances the inter-position of the governor pneumatic 50 and the tempo valve 62 is superfluous. Accordingly a suitable by-pass arrangementis made by which the maximum exhaust direct from the feeder bellows may be intro-- duced to the note sheet motor for re-winding, or, if desired, for driving it at maximum speed in either direction. For this bell crank lever 78 arranged to be connected with any suitable manually or other controlled means. Whenever desired, the valve 'may be moved downwardly to open the port 72-thereby opening vthe interior of the valve box G l to high exhaust which will draw air at maximum speed through theport '70, duct 71 and pipe 12to drive the note sheet motor at highspeed. It is preferred to couple the bell crank lever 7 8 or its equivalent or substitute, with reversing mechanism which causes the note sheet to be re-w-oundthe purpose being to open the valve .port 72 automatically upon the starting of the re-winding operation; but since it will be understood that the parts referred to as elements of the action unit may. be connected in any desired manner with other parts of the instrument, it is unnecessary for present purposes to illustrate the arrangement just described.

Turning now to the several expression controlling mechanisms, the apparatus shown in the present drawings by the three regulator pouches 80, 81 and 82 mounted upon a stationary; board 83 and connected to a common movable board 84 hinged at 85 to a part which is bracketed to the base board 10. At its free end the common'mow' able board 84 of said regulator pouches, carries a valve stem 86 of a throttle valve 86 which stands between a high exhaust chest 87 and a regulated exhaust chest 88. the upper side of the movable board 84 is a pouch 90 which is kept always partially exhausted so that it serves somewhat the purpose of a spring pulling upwardly on the movable board 84: and opposing the downward pull of the pouches 80, 81 and 82 when they are partially exhausted. By suitable means well known in the art, atmosphere or regulated tension may be admitted alternatively to any oneor more of the pouches 80, 81 and 82 and by the selective admission of either atmosphere or regulated tension to these pouches the regulating action may be modified to produce distinct increments of change in the degree of exhaust in the regulated tension chest 88 and thereby distinct increments of change in the playing intensities. The valve actions by which the admission of atmosphere or regulated tension to the pouches 80, 81 and 82 is controlled, are enclosed in the primary valve box 92 and the secondary action box 93. From the primary action box 92 ducts 93', 94, 95 and 96 lead to appropriate tracker vents by which the admission of atmosphere and regulated tension to the several pouches 80, 81 and 84 is controlled.

Provision is made for maintaining a uniform degree of exhaust in the upper pouch 90 in order to produce a desirable refinement of regulation; and this is cflected by means of a second regulating pneumatic 98 which operates a needle valve 99 in a Crescendo and diminuend'o eil'ects'are produced in the same manner that excess operation of the needle valve is prevented, through a the tracker which is connected by ducts 101, 102, with appropriate parts or" the valveaction for the valve 100.

Returning now to Fig. 6, the regulated tension chest 43 communicates with the reguated tension chest 88 shown in Fig. 2, that is to say, the throttle valve controlled by the regulator pouches 80, 81 and 82 regulates and also varies the degree of exhaust in the chest 43.,and therefore the degree of exhaust which is communicated to the striker pneumatics through the pipe 13 which leads to the action chest for the striker pneumatics'. 4 j

It has already been explained that when regulated tension. is admitted to various Cfl with the regulated exhaust chest +23 is a duct 111 which leads indirectly to the chest for the pouches 80, 81 and 82. i. e. indirectly past the valve 110. 'This valve comprises a cone-shaped throttle valve 112 and a disk valve 114;. The former acts as a needle valve to throttle the flow of regulated tension into the duct 111 "from a chamber 116. A chamber 118 has an atmosphere bleed 119 and vhen the valve 110 is lifted slightly the flow o'l regulated tension past the cone valve 112 is somewhat restricted and at the same time some atmosphere is permitted to leak from the chamber 118 into the chamher 116 thereby diminishing the degree of exhaust which communicated from the chamber 116 to those of the pouches S0, 81 and 82 which are selected for the admission oi regulated exhaust. A duct (not shown) leads from; the chamber 116 shown in Fig. 6 to the secondary valvechest 93 (Fig. 2) from which the pouches 80, 81 and 82. as selected, receive the regulated exhaust.

The stem of the valve 110 is connected to a bell crank lever 120 which in assembling with the instrument may be connected to any manual or other contrivanre for controlling the valve 110.

As shown in Fig. 6, the channel 28 leading from the source of high exhaust opens into a duct 122 which leads directly into the high exhaust chest 87 shown in Fig. 2.

A so-called equalizer 125 is connected by a duct 126 with the upper pouch 90.

Reference has already been made to the provision of means forpreventing the playing of the striking pneumatics during the re-winding of the note sheet. This is effected by means of a cut-off pneumatic 130 (Fig. having on its movable board 131 a lever 132 which overlies the collar 133 upon the stem 86 of the main throttle valve. Obviously when the pneumatic 130 is collapsed it pulls down the throttle valve and cuts off communication between high exhaust and regulated exhaust so that the supply oi regulated exhaust to the player pneumatic action chest is closed. The size of the pneumatic 130 is made sufficient for this purpose. The valve box 135 for the pneumatic 130 is connected by a pipe 136 with the source of high exhaust and by a tube 138 with avalve of any practicable sort, as, for instance, a tracker vent or, preferably, a valve controlled by the reverse mechanism which operates to start the rewind ot the note sheet. The valve box 135 contains merely a conventional primary valve which admits high exhaust to collapse the pneumatic when the re-wind is about to begin thereby producing the result of cutting off the supply of exhaust to the regulated tension chest.

It will be readily apparent to. those skilled in the art that the assembly of all of the described governing and controlling means in the form of a single unit which may be readily applied to the interior of a player piano, presents many great advantages. The adjustment of all the parts respectively and in relation to each other may be readily performed on the bench where all of the parts are most conveniently accessible and the devices may be thoroughly tested separately and collectively as a part of a single unit, conveniently to' testing machines,-so that when the unit is ready to be installed in an instrument it has a perfect combination of fully adjusted and operative parts requiring only to have a Few simple connections made to other associated parts oi the instrument.

For example, the elaborate combination of elements described above may be installed and made an efiicient part of the organization of the player piano by merely securing the base plate 10 in place, "for instance, in the base of a piano against the inside endof the piano and then connecting the tube 11with the feeder bellows; the tube 12 with the note sheet motor; the tube 12 with the player action chest; and the three bell cranks 68, 7S and 120 with the usual or any appropriate controlling devices located upon the key bed or elsewhere in the instrument, the connections being nothing more, necessarily, than mere link or wire connections. Thus when these units have been assembled in such a combination as that described, they may be shipped in unit form wherever desired and when received they may be installed by entirely unskilled labor and when so installed they will offer-.- tually perform the various correlated functions described above.

It is to be understood, ot course. that this invention is not limited to the specific assembly described above nor to the particular constructions of the ditl'erent elements described. On the contrary the particular organization and construction may be variously modified and the invention may be variously embodied within the scope of the subjoined claims. It is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly since theymay be used separately in various combinations and sub-combinations.

Claims:

1. A structural unit of controlling apparatus for installation in a player piano or the like, comprising. in combination. a baseboard equipped with conduits and having means for connection respectively with a source of exhaust, with the action chest of the player pneumatics and with a note sheet motor; a governor for the note sheet motor and a valve for varying the tempo, both mounted on said base-board and connected with said conduits between the means for and operatively connected with said con duits:the whole being assembled in cooperatlve relation as a unit for installation.

2. A structural unit of controlling apparatus for installation in a player piano or thelike, comprising, in combination, a baseboard equipped with conduits and having means for connection with a source of exhaust, with'the action chest of the player pneumatics and with a note sheet motor; a governor for the note sheet motor and a valve for varying the tempo, both mounted on said base-board and connected with said conduits between the means for connection with the feeder bellows and the means for connection with the note sheet motor; and an intensity regulator mounted on said baseboard having a valve interposed between the means for connection with the feeder bellows and the means for connection with the action chest of the playing pneumatics;the whole being assembled in cooperative relation as a unit for installation.

3. A structural unit of controlling apparatus for installation in a player piano or the like, comprising, in combination, a baseboard equipped with conduits and having means for connection with a source of exhaust, with the action chest of the player pneumatics and with a note. sheet motor; a governor for the note sheet motor and a valve for varying the tempo, both mounted on'sa-id base-board and connected with said conduits between the, means for connection with the feeder bellows and the means for connection with the note sheet motor ;-the

whole being assembled in cooperative rela-' haust and with the action chest of the player pneumatics; an intensity regulator mounted on said base-board having a valve interposed between the means for connection with the feeder bellows and the meansfor connection with the action chest of the playing pneumatics; and means for varying playing intensities; also mounted upon said baseboard and operatively connected with said conduits :-tne whole being assembled in cooperative relation as a unit for installation.

5. A structural unit of controlling apparatus for installation in a player piano or the like, comprising, in combination, a baseboard equipped with conduits and having means for connection with a source of ex- .haust and with the action chest ofthe player .pneumati'cs; an intensity regulator mounted on said base-board havlng a valve interposed between the means for connection with the feeder bellows and the means for connection' with the action chest of the playing pneumatics; means for varying playing in tensities, also mounted upon said base-board and operatively connected with said conduits; and a pedal governing apparatus also mounted upon said base-board and opera tively connected to said conduits ;the whole being assembled in cooperative relation as a unit for installation.

6. A structural unit of controlling apparatus for installation in a player piano or the like comprising, in combination, means providing operatively connected conduits for connection with feeder bellows and an action chest respectively; and cooperating intensity regulating and intensity varying means structurally united with said first named means and operatively connected with said conduits, the said combination providing a complete unit of intensity governing apparatus which said apparatus as a whole may be regulated and adjusted separately from the player piano and then installed therein and connected with other operating parts.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specificatiomin the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUY M. RUSSELL. Witnesses:

JAS. J. MALONEI, AGNES A. SMITH. 

